Rikane Delmarre is Dead

Experimenting with battery power....

#iOS #patterning #midisteps #apps #mutableinstruments #cvpal #filters #disting #eurorack #fmnoise #bastl #kastl #diy #mixer #experiment #fun pic.twitter.com/fpXEz021Il

— Neal Beard AHM (@nealbeardAHM) June 28, 2017

Organ Monkey Teeth

Two new tracks on soundcloud: Organ Monkey's Teeth Parts 1 and 2...

In case you're interested...

Both tracks were recorded and mixed in my small home studio in Portsmouth.

OMT part 1 was mostly made with doepfer a100, circuit bent barbie and a microbrute.

Bass 2xa110 vco> a106.1 ms20 copy. The settings on the filter lead to a notch around 100k which the kick fitted into snuggly.

Snare from circuit bent barbie– I sent noise from an am radio into it and then modulated it with a doepfer a100 system. The different timbres are created when I manually adjust settings.

Kick from a100, again no presets here!

Lead from a100 and the barbie again FM cross modulating each other.

Flute from mtron sent out into my mixer and back into logic. (I know it's software but I will never be able to afford a real mellotron!)

Reverb EHX hoy grail, delay EHX memory man.

OMT part 2 was made with circuit bent instruments and a small doepfer a100 system.

Bass a100 recorded through marshal amp with a low signal noise ratio in an attempt to not Freak out our neighbours (hence amp hum!)

Kick and snare also from Doepfer patches - no presets here!

Kick patch used sine and triangle from an a110>a131vca modulated with a145 adsr and a145 lfo (pitch)

Snare patch used the same crappy am radio  fitted with line out as a noise source into a bit crusher > also with an a110> vca modulated with adsr

Vocals processed through circuit bent voice changer and home made distortion box.

Lead from bent casio sa 5 into doepfer wasp filter being swept with foot controller.

Cow bell is a percussive noise from the a100 sent through a high hat with a piezo driver and picked up again with a piezo Mike.

Delay from ehx mm and reverb ehx holy grail.

All tracks run through mackie mixer and arranged in logic.

All in all, one of those sessions where the studio turns into a chaos of wires and possibilities- fun!

Thanks for listening... :)

 

 
 

Circuit Bent Modular Fusion

Another new track up on soundcloud...



All the modular and circuit bent voices, and their modulations, were synchronised with a midi clock from a Doepfer A190.

There's quite a lot of low end activity, so for your stereo enjoyement, I would recommend a decent set of speakers, or headphones!

3 New tracks...

Schneider's Buero Berlin

Whilst on a recent holiday in Berlin I made a pilgrimage to the legendary Schneider's Buero; but first I had to find it. Not an easy task!

Once inside the staff were all really friendly, knowledgeable and able to advise, whilst also allowing me space to experiment on my own. I went there with a shopping list, expecting to have to pick and choose depending on what was in stock. They had everything on it!

Could this be the hotline to the London test salon...?

You want hardware? They got it!

Even the ceiling is cool.

My daughter loved this Doepfer LMK2+ housed in an old piano.

Summing up: if you're into analog synths and you're in Berlin,  Germany, or even Europe, I'd definitely make a trip there. In fact I'd like to take another trip to Berlin, just go to Schneider's. It's a unique place with a fantastic vibe, great staff,  great gear, and an ethos that exudes enthusiasm and passion for what they do. Long live Schneiders!

Industrial dystopia sends us back to the womb

A new track...

Recorded Portsmouth 2013.

'Industrial dystopia sends us back to the womb' is a drone/noise/ambient piece made with a small Doepfer A100 system.

No midi sequencing, just good old fashioned knob twiddling...

Recorded in mono, then converted to stereo in Logic with manipulation to create a wider field.

Synthesis of a crappy keyboard

A new Neal Beard and his Machines track...

Recorded Portsmouth 2013.

Yes, it's meant to sound like this!

Bass, melody, and noise from a Doepfer A100. Drums Yamaha DD10.

For filtering I used Doepfer's A124 Wasp module, which created lots of unusual glitchy type effects. The audio was also split and overdriven through several VCA's across the stereo field.

New tracks in Progress

Two new tracks in progress:

A composition called Crappy Cat V,VI,I,ii in C (although I think I might rename this Crappy Keyboard Synthesis V, IV, I and ii in C) and an improvisation called Back to the Womb.

Both tracks created using an A100 and a circuit bent Yamaha DD10. The A112 sample was of my daughter.

Nearly, but not quite finished...

Salmper Version 2 - Friend Giskard

During another early morning pre-breakfast session I had the great idea of re-naming the track 'Friend Giskard' in honour of Asimov's robotic literary creation, and so added some manipulated 'The Galaxy' samples from Giskard's final speech, beat mapped my previous audio that was LFO clocked, added the booming bass drum from my ER 1, and a crappy hissy noisy, thus muddying the mix into sludgy mess which you can listen to here...

Things to do:

1.Sort out the mix!

2. Add Star Trek Theremin type Choral Sci-Fi noises.

3. Keep the track emptying into silence, I kind of like that.

4. Possibly add some LSDJ type computer jibber jabber, in sync.

5. Try and focus a feeling of robot thought processes and conversations in sci-fi-deep-space.

6. Finish the damn thing...

Samlper 2013 - Music in Progress

A new type of blogpost for a new year - I've got so many unfinished pieces of music I decided it was about time I started finished some of them, hence this 'music in progress' post, which I hope to be the first of many helping me manage the creative process.

I recorded Samlper 2013 early this morning before the family woke. It's starting point was to make an spatial-sci-fi-soundscape with a limited palette of two 8 bit samples and feedback loops, which then I modulated in three sweeps of stereo-space-time.

Version 2 coming soon...

(and yes I did mean to misspell samlper!)

May the Pang be with you

A short track made using a Commodore 64 running Mssiah.
(Drums and vocals in Waveplayer so all samples in glorious 4 bit, 8 Khz! Synth lead in Monosynth. Recorded and mixed in Logic Pro)

Kawai Battery Replacement

Recently I was lucky enough to aquire a Kawai K4r. A 1989 digital classic!

Cosmetically it was in great condition but upon firing it up the machine gave me an Internal Battery Warning.

Contrary to what I'd expect, fixing this was very easy. There isn't much about it online however, hence me writing this post to help anyone else in a simliar situation.

First thing to do is to get a Cr2032 battery. You can get these EVERYWHERE! Mine cost me a quid.

Next open up the beast; as you can see from the photos the battery is easy to find AND in a clip holder, so no desoldering required.

Remove old battery and insert new one. Screw the beast back up.

You will have now lost all your preset sounds but do not fret,  KAWAI have them all available for download! How cool is that!

These can be transferred to your machine either with SysEx using something like SysEx Librarian or Elektron C6 SysEx Manager or with a MIDI file using any MIDI sequencer program that can play it.

I decided to go for the MIDI sequencer file option.

Import the downloaded .mid file to your favourite DAW. I used Logic.

Set the K4 to: INT PROTECT = OFF, RCV EXCL = ON and RCV CH = 1.

Then play the file on your DAW - make sure the track header is set to external MIDI.

And hey presto you're up and running!

I love this machine already so more Kawai K4r posts to follow...

Neal Beard EP 8

EP 8 is finished and available for free download here.

Neal Beard and his Machines EP 8

01 Bit Rot Cycle     6:48  
02 Trajectory Error     17:48 
     

Recorded Portsmouth Nov 2011.


Neal Beard and his machines hope you enjoy listening to their musical creations.

The first track Bit Rot Cycle is also on Soundcloud below.

  Bit Rot Cycle by Neal Beard & his Machines 

The EP was recorded using a home made matrix mixer, feedback loops, piezo mikes, a High Hat, an EHX small stone, a circuit bent Belcat analog delay pedal, LSDJ, a MFOS WSG,a EHX Memory Man, a EHX Pulsar, an EHX Holy Grail, a circuit bent Speak and Maths, a cosmic choir from hell and several home made filters, mostly recorded and mixed in a single take in real space-time.

Automated Mould

This track didn't really fit in with the forthcoming Drone/Noise EP, so here it is...

Automated Mould

(If you're interested it was made with a matrix mixer, some guitar pedals, a piezo sound driver sending sound through a high hat, a circuit bent speak and maths, some home made filters and feedback loops. The speak and maths was the only sound input.)

Drone Noise Soundscapes

Recently Neal Beard and his Machines have experimenting with drone/noise sounds-capes largely inspired by the early tapes of the brilliant band Emeralds.

Here are a couple of experiments created using free running A100 oscs being modulated FM by random LSDJ sequences and guitar. The first example is more melodic, the second more fractured and noisy.

Experiment 1.47

Example 3.67

The ideas explored in these sessions are gradually evolving into two new EP's of improvised compositions which should be available for download soon...

Bleepotron

Another machine joins the merry throng.

The Bleepotron is a MIDI synth kit that uses a dsPIC digital signal processor. It's a very easy build and has a great lo-fi sound. It's even possible to edit patches and save on it!

I housed mine in an old vid box.

I ran through all it's presets sounds here.

(sorry about the crap loop)

More info about it below...

Bleep-o-tron has the following features:

• monophonic

• 2 x oscillators (timbres)

• 8 x phase-modulation waveforms + combinations (36 in total)

• white noise

• 6 x ADSR (attack-decay-sustain-release) envelopes

• 6 x LFO’s (low-frequency oscillators)

• 6 x LFO waveforms (sine, square, triangle, rising sawtooth, falling sawtooth, noise)

• detuned second oscillator by octaves, semitones or cents

• connects to standard MIDI keyboard (velocity sensitive)

• keyboard transpose (up to +/– 2 octaves)

• keyboard split

• play notes using PS/2 PC keyboard

• pitch bend and modulation using PS/2 PC mouse

• ring modulator

• oscillator synch

• flanger (swept comb filter)

• portamento (constant rate and constant time)

• selectable MIDI channel #1 to #16

• 16 x preset patches

• 8 x user patches (non-volatile)

• master volume control + gain x 2

Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

LSDJ + 2 channels of circuit bent distortion = Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

Noisy Power Pill (experiment)

New Neal Beard Music

Two new Neal Beard tracks have just gone up on Soundcloud...

Failed BMSR with FM by Neal Beard & his Machines

The Devils Noise by Neal Beard & his Machines

Fridge Squidge (parts 1+2)

More new music from Neal Beard and his Machines.

Two new tracks Fridge Squidge (parts 1+2) have just gone up on Soundcloud.

Fridge Squidge (part one version 5) by Neal Beard & his Machines

Fridge Squidge (after one week version 5) by Neal Beard & his Machines

Made using various oscillators, some circuit bent stuff, a korg Er1, a c64 running Mssiah and a guitar. Vocals by Victoria.